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A lovely, vibrant, juicy sweet and green oriental with a Dalimania ring to it

Launched: 1996, discontinuedGroup: Floral

INTRODUCTION

I have a number of miniatures fragrances from Capucci, a fashion house established by Italian artist Roberto Capucci in 1950, The house - nicknamed 'the Givenchy of Rome' - is known for its sculpted dressed and innovative use of colours and materials. The founder officially retired from the fashion world in 1996, though fragrances continue to be released.

THE PACKAGING

The bottle is an attractive and unusual dark yellow / brown tinted glass in a lozenge form that's topped off with a golden and red stopper. The bottle is diamond shaped with all four facets being a different colour: yellow, pink, orange and red. The use of colours makes for a bright and cheerful box that's a fairly good indication of what's within.

THE FRAGRANCE

Top notes: orange blossom, mandarin, marigold

Ballade a Venise opens up sumptuous and aromatic with a boozy and bitter woody accord mixed with a prominently sweet juicy orange. This seems a lot and even a bit diverse for a top, however in the nineties this complex and rich fruity, green and sweet aromatic openings were fairly common back then:

Heart notes: olive blossom, ylang-ylang, jasmine, passion fruit

Within seconds, a rounder, creamier note hits my nose that reminds me of rich, tannic and woody wild honey, a kind of signature that runs through the fragrance from the beginning to the end. A hint of distinct passion fruit develops that has a déjà vu for me, I know that in combination of the sweet, creamy honeyed florals, I've smelled a fragrance similar to it somewhere before.

After an hour or so as the bitter and green aspects of the head notes blend in more and more and the underlying creamy, sweet and juicy fruit - white floral combination comes to the forth, I have got the answer: Dalimania from Salvador Dali, my favourite Dali fragrance. Slightly more herbal and bitter in the beginning, from the middle onwards, Ballade à Venise - which came first - resembles it a lot.

Although the sillage is less pronounced and less sugary sweet in the next 6 - 7 hours, there's no denying the two juices were made in the same vein and most likely share some of the ingredients too as both came on the market only a few years apart. Just as plush, creamy, lactonic and fruity without being sugary or sickly sweet, the remaining bitter and green woody note of galbanum adds that edge that takes them apart and makes Ballade à Venise less sickly sweet, unique and multidimensional therefore more versatile and enjoyable for the nose.

Base notes: galbanum

Lastly, as the day ends, a lovely skin scent develops leaving a simply addictive, sweet, creamy and fruit-tinged wood wrapped up in milk and orange - flavoured honey. There's very scant information on the list of notes but it's definitely a rich and smooth oriental affair that stays close to the skin in the final few hours. The scent has become woodier and softer on the fruit with only a hint of Dalimania left. The emphasis is on the ever so gentle, warm and milky sandalwood that has an intoxicating and comforting, powdery feel, pure heaven! If I could I would bathe in the stuff.

CONCLUSION

Ballade a Venise seems to have vanished off the face of the earth so it must have been discontinued shortly after its release. After extensive search I found no detailed description of the scent so I decided to add one for the record. A fresher, greener Dalimania with a lot more aromatic, green and woody galbanum mixed with plush white florals and juicy fruits that dry down to an irresistibly soft and smooth milky base of sandalwood, icing-sugar vanilla, skin-hugging musk and a touch of amber. This is an ultimate fruity woody oriental that sadly no longer exists and will be missed. I might try to tweak my Dalimania with some galbanum to resurrect this quirky little creation.

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

I've only seen a 5ml miniature for sale on eBay for around £4 and on other perfume collection sites.